Marvel kicked off its Disney+ era with WandaVision back in 2021 and many would argue that was still their best project. Well, three years later, a follow up to that series is finally here as Marvel’s Agatha All Along is now streaming on Disney+. Following the fan-favorite villain, this new series will pick up the WandaVision left off, with Agatha still under the spell of the Scarlet Witch and living her fictional, television-inspired life.
Before the episode officially opens, we get a glimpse of the new Marvel Television scroll. The banner had been removed several years ago as Marvel attempted to consolidate its product, but has now returned with the launch of this new series.
The episode opens with Agatha humming “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road,” a song that will play a large role in the series. Agatha is living a simulated life as a disgraced detective named Agnes, the same name her character went by in WandaVision. She is investigating a murder along with Herb, another former neighbor of Westview.
Agnes notices familiar black markings on the hands of the victim, which signify the use of the Darkhold. She strays away from the crime scene and finds a broach lying in a puddle. She clearly finds it interesting and chooses to hide it rather than submit it as evidence. Agnes is clearly disturbed by the crime and Herb questions her, saying she doesn’t seem like herself. We never do get to see the victim’s face. Agnes seems very defensive as the show cuts to a hilariously over-dramatic title sequence.
Agnes skips the line at the library to speak to Dottie, another familiar citizen of Westview, who is the librarian in this iteration. She presents her with a card that was found on the victim, listing dates for a specific book being checked out. After some light threatening, Dottie agrees to look into the book. The title of the book is “Dialogue And Rhetoric: Known History Of Learning & Debate.” We’ll come back to the significance of that later.
Dottie informs Agnes that the book was stolen three years ago and that they have more copies. Agnes goes to find another copy but finds that they have all been burned. A mysterious man pops up behind her to tell her there was a fire and every last copy was burned.
Agnes arrives at the station, where she is greeted by the police chief, played by Westview resident Phil Jones. The chief informs her that soil samples found under the nails of the victim place her body in eastern Europe. This is consistent with the death of Wanda Maximoff in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Remember, Wanda was killed in Mount Wundagore as she destroyed all copies of the Darkhold with her. It appears Agnes is investigating the murder of the Scarlet Witch.
The chief’s second piece of news for Agnes is revealed with the arrival of Aubrey Plaza, who appears to be plying a federal agent of some kind by the name of Agent Vidal. It’s immediately clear she and Agnes have some history. Vidal questions Agnes’ fictional life before agreeing to go along with the simulation. They argue a bit about the case before Vidal seemingly plants a seed of doubt about the simulation. Agnes asks her to leave.
Agnes meets with Norm, another WandaVision alum, who is seemingly a jeweler/pawn shop owner in this reality. Norm examines the mysterious broach Agnes found, explaining that it features the “triple goddess.” He also finds that it is actually a locket and opens it to find a lock of black hair. Agnes is clearly disturbed by the sight of the hair and she takes the locket back and leaves.
Agnes is working late at the station, examining the library card. She underlines the first letter of every word in the title of the book and writes out “DARKH-” before being startled by the chief who tells her to go home. Back at her house, it’s made clear Agnes lives alone. She hesitates before opening a door to a child’s room. We see trophies and plaques with the name Nicholas Scratch on them. In the comics, this is the name of Agatha Harkness’ son, who becomes a villain. Scratch is also referenced in WandaVision with the name of Agatha’s rabbit: Senor Scratchy. Agnes sheds a tear for what appears to be her lost son.
Agnes answers a knock at her door and finds Vidal offering a pizza. The two share a laugh before Agnes brings up the case. Vidal asks Agnes about traveling and she pauses, clearly missing some of her own memories. Vidal brings her back to the case before asking if she remembers why she hates her. She also references the broach she is hiding, which Agnes denies.
Their conversation is interrupted when Agnes hears an intruder upstairs. She chases after the mysterious figure until he is hit by a car driven by Mrs. Hart, again a familiar face from WandaVision. Agnes arrests would-be thief and reveals his face to be just a teen.
At the station, Agnes interrogates the teen, who seems to know who she is. He tells her he was looking for “The Road,” and she she should know what he means. She notices black marks on his fingers but he plays it off as ink. Agnes goes full bad cop and screams at the teen about her murder victim, showing him pictures of the crime scene and asking who she is. He retorts that these are just pictures of flowers and she looks down to find that the photos have changed. Agnes looks to the two-way mirror, which prompts the teen to aks about a painting. Agnes sees that the mirror is gone and has been replace by a painting when the teen starts to murmur some kind of spell. Agnes angrily handcuffs him and tells him he’ll be spending the night in holding.
Agnes heads to the morgue where she finds an empty slab. She looks again and sees a body on that same slab. She describes the body, including “hair the color of scarlet.” She looks at the body’s toe tag but finds the library card instead. As she looks closer, next to the final date on the card the name “W. Maximoff” appears. Vidal appears and breaks the simulation by telling Agnes Wanda is dead and all of the copies of the Darkhold is gone. Agnes begins to remove clothing, revealing all of her outfits from WandaVision one by one. Eventually, she goes all the way back to her black-and-white 1950s version. Vidal asks her what her name is and she checks the library card again to find “A. Harkness” appear right above “W. Maximoff.”
Agatha wakes up in her home, now fully aware of who she truly is and what’s been going on. She storms out of her house naked and angrily stomps toward Herb. He informs her it’s been three years she’s been living in Westview. She mumbles the name Wanda and Herb tells her they “try not to say her name.” Clearly the town is still recovering from the events of WandaVision.
Agatha returns home and is angered to find that she has no power. She races to her basement to find no witch artifacts, but instead, just a normal basement. She finds her rabbit and talks to him before hearing a thud upstairs. She investigates and finds the teen tied up in a closet. She realizes, if he is real, Vidal must be real as well.
The front doors explodes and Vidal enters and attacks Agatha. The two fight after Vidal points out Agatha is vulnerable without the Darkhold. Agatha eventually convinces Vidal she would rather fight her when she’s a formidable opponent. Vidal agrees but informs her the Salem Seven are coming for her. In the comics, the Salem Seven are the children of Nicholas Scratch and have opposed Agatha and the Fantastic Four on multiple occasions.
Vidal leaves Agatha with the news of her impending doom. Agatha turns to find the teen still sitting tied up as the episode comes to a close.
This was an awesome start to the new series. Not only does it deliver the amazing genre-jumping fun of WandaVision but it also gives us several exciting nods to Marvel Comics and the lore of Agatha Harkness. We also get an interesting set up for this series as a whole as Marvel heads in a very different direction with this project.
The first two episodes of Marvel’s Agatha All Along are now streaming on Disney+.